Correctly and safely lifting patients and injured persons is a difficult task. It is difficult from at least two viewpoints. First, it is important to lift the patient or injured person without further injuring the person or aggravating an existing injury. Secondly, and what may be surprising to many, it is important to lift the person or patient without injuring the nurses, EMT/EMS personnel or other healthcare workers engaged in handling patients and injured persons. The number of injuries suffered by healthcare personnel in lifting patients and injured persons is huge.
One particular area of concern is that of lifting an injured person that has fallen or been injured in an accident such as an automobile accident. It is critical that the initial handling of the injured person be carried out in such a way that no further injuries occur to the injured person due to lifting and handling. This is particularly challenging at accident sites when there are serious injuries to a person. A great deal of care and time is exercised in initially moving the injured person from the ground, for example, onto a stretcher. This is particularly difficult and challenging where the injured person is obese or even heavy.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for a patient lifting device that because of its nature and design will generally prevent injured persons from being further injured when being moved from an initial position onto a stretcher. Further, there is a need for a patient lifting device that includes a power lift for lifting the patient and positioning the patient or injured person for transfer onto a stretcher or other support device and which does not require actual lifting by medical personnel.